Category Archives: classic cinema

Best Movies Watched in 2022

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Cliff Burns

“Nightmare Alley” (2021) Directed by Guillermo del Toro “Songs From the Second Floor” (2000) Directed by Roy Andersson “You, the Living” (2007) Directed by Roy Andersson “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (2022) Directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert “Me … Continue reading →

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Best Films Watched in 2019

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Cliff Burns

Didn’t quite achieve my goal of watching a hundred films during the course of 2019, but at 92 I came pretty darn close. Not as many documentaries this past year, which is somewhat surprising as it’s a genre that has … Continue reading →

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Film Quote (David Thomson)

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Cliff Burns

“Art is not a recreation, a consolation, a pastime, a business…it is the stone on which your knife is sharpened.” “The human tragedy is not our diligent wars, our arbitrary floods and earthquakes, our ordinary outrages of cruelty…It is that … Continue reading →

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Film Quote (Tarkovsky)

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Cliff Burns

“In cinema it is necessary not to explain, but to act upon the viewer’s feelings, and the emotion which is awoken is what provokes thought.” Andrei Tarkovsky     

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I hate comic book movies (d’you think it shows?)

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Cliff Burns

This movie sucks (and so do you) Whatever happened to scholarship, whatever happened to standards? Why are there no good, reliable movie critics these days? Where have you gone, Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris? We miss you Manny Farber and … Continue reading →

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Best Films Watched in 2018

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Cliff Burns

Thanks to the irresistible temptations of Netflix and the unfortunate discovery of podcasts, I watched less than 100 movies in 2018, far below my usual tally. Ah, but in my defense, the proportion of good movies to bad ones was … Continue reading →

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Censorship at the CBC

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Cliff Burns

Speaking of censorship…I responded to Eli Glasner’s choices as the “best” pictures of the year on CBC’s website and my comment was “disabled” because, apparently, the administrators thought I was too mean for pointing out that Eli’s pick for the … Continue reading →

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Val Lewton: A Master of Suspense

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Cliff Burns

I have to give a plug to the folks at The Secret History of Hollywood. I’ve spent the last couple of days listening to podcasts of their comprehensive, 6-part documentary on the life and career of an under-appreciated cinematic genius, … Continue reading →

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Best Movies of 2017

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Cliff Burns

For the second year in a row I managed to watch over one hundred movies in 2017. Here is a roster of my favorite cinematic experiences of the past year: “I, Daniel Blake” (Directed by Ken Loach) “Dogtooth” (Directed by … Continue reading →

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Silver Saucers & Bug-Eyed Monsters

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Cliff Burns

Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties (21st Century Edition) by Bill Warren (Introduced by Howard Waldrop) McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers (2010) A thoroughly remarkable tome. At once an invaluable, nay, exhaustive resource and a … Continue reading →

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